May 9, 2012

Left-hander Chris Sale’s move from the starting rotation to the bullpen may only be temporary, he and pitching coach Don Cooper said Tuesday.

Sale, who was named the White Sox’ closer Friday because he had been experiencing discomfort in his left elbow — raising concerns about the rigors of starting on his arm — still wants badly to start.

And he might get another shot this season, even though manager Robin Ventura had said his move to the bullpen would be for the rest of the season.

“Never say never,’’ Cooper told the Sun-Times when asked if Sale’s move to the pen is permanent this season. “For this moment, right now, he’s in the bullpen.’’ …

… Sale said his arm feels great and that the subject of starting again is on the burner.

“No, absolutely not,’’ Sale said when asked if he had ruled out starting this season. “Starting is something I hope I can get back into. We’ve been kind of talking back and forth. There’s a possibility of it. Not ruling it out is the best way to say it.’’

It was thought that Cooper and former manager Ozzie Guillen were against making Sale a starter when plans for this season were discussed last year. Cooper said that wasn’t true in his case.

“No, no, I was never adamantly against it,’’ Cooper said. “All I knew is we had one of the best lefty relievers right there. And like I said from the beginning, as an organization, we decided to do this undertaking. And I was all in. I was looking forward to getting him over the hump and making him a starter, and we were proceeding accordingly. I want what my guys want. He wants to start. I want him to start.’’

As of now, Sale is being “held back,’’ Cooper said. “We’re going to continue to watch it. Who knows what we may do? Right now, we just kind of backed off him a little bit. In effect, we’ve missed a start. He’s feeling great right now.’’ …

… Cooper dismissed the notion that Sale’s mechanics aren’t suited for the rigors of starting.

“No, no, no, there were no concerns about that,’’ Cooper said.

“If you don’t have a good delivery, you can’t throw strikes. And Chris Sale is a strike-throwing machine. He has a good delivery.’’ …

May 5, 2012

… The 23-year-old with top-of-the-rotation stuff had his first foray as a starter cut short on Friday, when manager Robin Ventura announced that an organizational decision was made to move the southpaw back into the bullpen. Sale was experiencing soreness in his arm, but as Sale admitted Saturday, he thought it was just normal soreness from his move to a starter.

“Like I said, it’s just tender. It doesn’t hurt when I throw. It’s tender to touch and it takes a little bit to get loosened up,” Sale said. “I thought it was just soreness. It was just sore to me and doesn’t hurt or anything.

“They thought it might trickle into something else. I didn’t see that at all. I just saw it as typical soreness after throwing. Like I said, those guys know what they are doing. They’ve been there and done that. You have to listen to them.”

No MRI was done on Sale’s elbow, and Sale doesn’t believe his unique pitching style or mechanics have anything to do with the soreness. He has been pitching the same way since college.

A decision also was made that a trip to the disabled list was not needed. It was simply about managing Sale’s workload, which the White Sox believe is easier to do with him coming out of the bullpen. …

Chris Sale’s time as a starting pitcher lasted one month and 32 innings.

But the White Sox view the left-hander’s move from the rotation to the team’s closer, as announced by manager Robin Ventura prior to Friday’s series opener in Detroit, not as a disappointment but more as a move to preserve Sale’s career.

The 23-year-old had been experiencing a mixture of soreness and tightness in his pitching elbow, according to Ventura. So Ventura met with Sale on Friday and the decision was made.

Sale left the meeting wearing a compression sleeve on his elbow. He elected not to comment pregame. Sale has said before that he enjoys the thrill of closing but has always felt more comfortable as a starter.

As Ventura pointed out, Sale is not hurt and still could probably go out and start. Ventura added that Sale is tough enough to handle the starting rigors, but Ventura would feel terrible if Sale got hurt in the process.

“It’s not disappointing to us,” said White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper of the change. “It’s disappointing to him because this was something that he’s always wanted to do.”

In what could be his first and only year as a starter, Sale has a 3-1 record with a 2.89 ERA during five trips to the mound, with 29 strikeouts and eight walks over those 32 innings. He threw at least 100 pitches in each of his first four starts, before being pulled with 88 pitches after six innings against Cleveland on Tuesday.

… This Sale move obviously affects alignment for the rest of the staff. Hector Santiago, who recorded four saves as the White Sox closer, will move into a middle-relief role with the South Siders now having four left-handers in the bullpen. Dylan Axelrod gets the start in Sunday’s series finale against the Tigers and will have the first chance to hold on to that fifth spot.

… There wasn’t a complete feeling of permanence with this Sale move, as both Cooper and Ventura espoused a “never say never” attitude. But the 13th pick in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft, who had a 2.58 ERA over 79 career relief appearances coming into the 2012 campaign, not to mention 12 saves, will be the White Sox closer for the foreseeable future.

“He is much more important to the White Sox organization with a uniform on and pitching,” Cooper said. “And we are not going to put that at a greater risk, or jeopardize that.”

“It’s not disappointing to us, it’s disappointing to him because this was something he’s always wanted to do,” pitching coach Don Cooper said before the Sox’ game at Detroit Friday. “We’re not making this decision based on what’s best for the team because obviously he’s starting and doing well and that would be a wonderful thing to keep him in. We feel we’re doing what’s best for him, his career and his health. It’s the best way to keep him healthy and strong.”

“It’s easier to maintain that and keeping tabs on this in the bullpen than it is as a starter,” Cooper said. “We already know he’s a good left-handed reliever. That’s been proven over the past 1 ½ years. Now we’ll be trying to make him one of the best left-handed relievers in baseball, not just in the American League. That’s all we’re at with it. Chris is going to be fine. He was upset. He wanted to continue to do this. But sometimes we have to make decisions based upon what we feel is best for that individual, and that’s what we did.” …

When I first saw the headline I said ‘dammit, don’t these knuckleheads understand that he’s more valuable as a starter?’ After reading the whole article though I’m convinced this is no ‘we’re desperate for a closer’ move and I’m scared beyond words. Merkin’s article sounds horrible. Cooper’s quote is as scary as it gets.

Pitch classifications provided by the Gameday Algorithm and may be inaccurate.Pitch Type LWTS correspond to how many runs were likely to score on a particular pitch based on average run expectancy when each pitch was thrown and what happened as a result. Negative scores indicate more effective pitches. Time to Plate is the time, in seconds, that it takes an average pitch of this type to reach the plate. This is strongly correlated with velocity, but also factors in movement.

Pitch classifications provided by the Gameday Algorithm and may be inaccurate. Pitch Type LWTS correspond to how many runs were likely to score on a particular pitch based on average run expectancy when each pitch was thrown and what happened as a result. Negative scores indicate more effective pitches. Time to Plate is the time, in seconds, that it takes an average pitch of this type to reach the plate. This is strongly correlated with velocity, but also factors in movement.

Pitch classifications provided by the Gameday Algorithm and may be inaccurate.Pitch Type LWTS correspond to how many runs were likely to score on a particular pitch based on average run expectancy when each pitch was thrown and what happened as a result. Negative scores indicate more effective pitches.Time to Plate is the time, in seconds, that it takes an average pitch of this type to reach the plate. This is strongly correlated with velocity, but also factors in movement.

Pitch classifications provided by the Gameday Algorithm and may be inaccurate. Pitch Type LWTS correspond to how many runs were likely to score on a particular pitch based on average run expectancy when each pitch was thrown and what happened as a result. Negative scores indicate more effective pitches. Time to Plate is the time, in seconds, that it takes an average pitch of this type to reach the plate. This is strongly correlated with velocity, but also factors in movement.

Watch live on CSN-TV as Chris Sale gets the start in the first of two exhibition games vs. the Astros at Minute Maid Park today at 7:05 p.m. CT. Four closing candidates are also scheduled to pitch, including Addison Reed, Matt Thornton, Hector Santiago, and Jesse Crain, as well as rookie reliever Nate Jones. Boxscore | Gameday

The game is, also, carried live on MLB.TV’s free game of the day and Gameday Audio.

April 1, 2012

Twenty-two strikeouts over 24 innings placed Chris Sale as the Cactus League leader in that category entering Friday night’s contests. Even though the lanky left-hander, who turned 23 on Friday, quite possibly has the best raw stuff on the White Sox staff, he isn’t worried about big strikeout numbers in his first season as a starter.

To reinforce this particular point, Sale had to ask his mom and wife how many he recorded during Thursday’s victory over the Dodgers. The correct answer was seven, without issuing a walk.

“Strikeouts are great, but at the same time, you still want to attack early and often,” Sale said. “That’s the game plan: Get strike one and an out in three or four pitches. If that out happens to be a strikeout, then great. It’s not a goal of mine to go into each game and have X amount of strikeouts.”

With the innings total placed upon Sale’s arm being watched in his first season as a starter and some equally young arms behind him in the bullpen, Sale realizes fewer pitches lead to a greater chance for far-ranging team and personal success.

“At the end of the day, it would be better for us as a pitching staff if I was throwing less pitches and feeling better next time out,” Sale said. “Thirteen strikeouts is cool, but if you are going six innings with 120 pitches with 13 K’s, that’s probably not as good as a lower pitch count with less strikeouts but more innings.”

A White Sox fan in search of the team’s future starters need look no deeper than Double-A Birmingham. That rotation features Nestor Molina, Simon Castro, Jose Quintana and Pedro Hernandez, who all took part in big league camp, as well as right-hander Cameron Bayne. If a starting spot opens up during the course of the season, there’s a chance the White Sox would look at the Barons as quickly as they would check the rotation for Triple-A Charlotte.

Molina (Sergio Santos, from Toronto), Castro and Hernandez (both Carlos Quentin, from San Diego) all came over during offseason trades. Birmingham’s roster also will feature relievers such as Nevin Griffith, Dan Remenowsky and Ryan Kussmaul, as well as position players such as Mitchell, Andy Wilkins and Jose Martinez.

Gordon Beckham, 2B, Chicago White Sox: Age 25. Three-year downtrend in performance but still young enough to live up to what he showed in college. As with Pedro Alvarez, it is too soon to give up on him.

Dayan Viciedo, OF, Chicago White Sox: Age 23. Not as good as he hit in 2010, and not as bad as he hit in 2011. Real skills somewhere in the .280/.325/.440 range with a chance for more eventually.